Swahili word of the day combined with culture fact: “Wazungu” means “White person.” When we walk back from Joytown to SACDEP, some of the little school kids will follow us or peak through the fence giggling and saying “Wazungu! Wazungu!” It’s like a game to them, turning to each other and calling out. White people aren’t terribly uncommon in Thika, but the little ones enjoy themselves. They wave and smile and make us feel like rock stars. :)
Today was another good day in Joytown, and relatively uneventful. We got done what we wanted to, and had time to help out the other group with their spreadsheets.
This brings me to another topic. I bet you’re wondering by now what exactly we are doing while we’re here. To explain it all out would take a great deal of time, but here is a concise summary in case you’re interested!
Ben, Elisa, and I are doing skills tests with the wheelchairs. We are comparing two different wheelchairs to see which one takes less energy to push. We do this by having thirty children perform the same six tests in both chairs and analyzing the results. The six tests involve having the children push on rough ground, smooth ground, in a figure eight, up and down a curb, around a circle while in a wheelie, and lastly, transferring from the chair to the ground. All off these are essential skills.
Luke, Danielle, and Sarah are working with children who have prosthetics or orthotics (leg braces, etc). Luke and Danielle are doing skills tests vaguely similar to ours, except with more expensive equipment that measures oxygen consumption. Sarah is working with another piece of equipment called the GAITRite mat, which records footsteps and tells all sorts of information about them.
Kris, a wheelchair technician who came with us is fixing as many chairs as he can, from flat tires to brake adjustments to castor replacement.
In all of our spare time, we are working on questionnaires! This is the part that gets confusing. Here are the questionnaires we are doing:
Functional Mobility Assessment – tells us how the kids function in their wheelchair in everyday life
Wheelchair Regions Questionnaire for Suitability – tells us if the chair is right for the kid
Wheelchair Regions Questionnaire for User – tells us how much the kid likes the chair
Wheelchair Regions Questionnaire for Design – tells us how well the chair is designed
Wheelchair Regions Questionnaire for Condition – tells us the condition the chair is in
Lower Limb Functional Questionnaire – tells us how well a kid using orthotics is able to function
Needless to say, it is a good thing we have so many team members. It takes quite a while to get this data uploaded and into spreadsheets. Kris, Austin, and Deanna (a physical therapist from TX) are administering the first five questionnaires, and the rest of the team is working on the LLFQs (there are three kinds of those as well).
I have spent a good portion of the day working on these spreadsheets, which is probably why I’ve posted about them. Thanks for reading, it makes me feel like my work is relatively meaningful. ;)
On that note, I’m going to bed. This wazungu is TIRED. Goodnight! :)
Today was another good day in Joytown, and relatively uneventful. We got done what we wanted to, and had time to help out the other group with their spreadsheets.
This brings me to another topic. I bet you’re wondering by now what exactly we are doing while we’re here. To explain it all out would take a great deal of time, but here is a concise summary in case you’re interested!
Ben, Elisa, and I are doing skills tests with the wheelchairs. We are comparing two different wheelchairs to see which one takes less energy to push. We do this by having thirty children perform the same six tests in both chairs and analyzing the results. The six tests involve having the children push on rough ground, smooth ground, in a figure eight, up and down a curb, around a circle while in a wheelie, and lastly, transferring from the chair to the ground. All off these are essential skills.
Luke, Danielle, and Sarah are working with children who have prosthetics or orthotics (leg braces, etc). Luke and Danielle are doing skills tests vaguely similar to ours, except with more expensive equipment that measures oxygen consumption. Sarah is working with another piece of equipment called the GAITRite mat, which records footsteps and tells all sorts of information about them.
Kris, a wheelchair technician who came with us is fixing as many chairs as he can, from flat tires to brake adjustments to castor replacement.
In all of our spare time, we are working on questionnaires! This is the part that gets confusing. Here are the questionnaires we are doing:
Functional Mobility Assessment – tells us how the kids function in their wheelchair in everyday life
Wheelchair Regions Questionnaire for Suitability – tells us if the chair is right for the kid
Wheelchair Regions Questionnaire for User – tells us how much the kid likes the chair
Wheelchair Regions Questionnaire for Design – tells us how well the chair is designed
Wheelchair Regions Questionnaire for Condition – tells us the condition the chair is in
Lower Limb Functional Questionnaire – tells us how well a kid using orthotics is able to function
Needless to say, it is a good thing we have so many team members. It takes quite a while to get this data uploaded and into spreadsheets. Kris, Austin, and Deanna (a physical therapist from TX) are administering the first five questionnaires, and the rest of the team is working on the LLFQs (there are three kinds of those as well).
I have spent a good portion of the day working on these spreadsheets, which is probably why I’ve posted about them. Thanks for reading, it makes me feel like my work is relatively meaningful. ;)
On that note, I’m going to bed. This wazungu is TIRED. Goodnight! :)